Berduc

Entre-Rios
Argentina

Fell
April 6, 2008 at ~ 10:03 PM.

(L6 chondrite veined)

Total
estimated material recovered, ~10,000 grams.

At ~10:03
pm, a bright fireball was seen over central Uruguay and east-central
Argentina. A massive ball of fire moving from south-southeast and
heading to the north-northwest began over Uruguay and quickly passed
over the Uruguay river into Entre-Rios state, Argentina. There were
multiple large explosions seen by thousands of people all over both
Argentina and Uruguay.

According
to eyewitnesses that I interviewed myself in Argentina, and from
news reports, it is clear that the fireball was very large. One
eyewitness, a waiter at a restaurant in Colon, Argentina, said that when the
last explosion occurred, he saw "thousands" of burning pieces
falling from the sky like fireworks. People all over central Entre-Rios state felt the ground shake, and said that the booms were
so strong, they thought that their homes would collapse.

The next
day, meteorite pieces were reported found at a plant nursery in the
tiny village named Berduc. Black stones were found among the
greenhouses, on rooftops of homes and a store, and all over the
roads, even on highway 14.

I was in
Washington DC doing a meteorite exchange at the Smithsonian
Institution when this meteorite fell, and while
at the airport coming home, I bought tickets to Argentina and began
preparing for my first fall chase of 2008! I wanted to see for
myself what this Argentina fall was about, and scout out the
strewnfield. I live for the chase, and this looked like a good one.

Below are
photos and reports about my trip.

This Google
Earth map shows the locations of Berduc meteorites we found as well
as stones found by locals. These points represent only a small
amount of the stones recovered, but it gives a good idea of the
density in the very small strewnfield. Large and small pieces were
found mixed together, from 1 gram to 200 gram stones in the same
area, suggesting a very short shotgun-blast strewnfield instead of a
longer more narrow strewnfield. The greenhouses are on the left
side, and many stones were found there by workers.

Our first night in Argentina, a typical "Gaucho
Asado" barbeque. Robert Ward and Greg Hupe.

This is "Ground Zero", more or less around the
center of the strewnfield as best as we could determine with our
initial investigations. This multi-family house was pelted with many
small meteorites. I interviewed the people living there, and they
told me that they saw the sky light up outside like daylight, and
when they ran to look, they saw a ball of fire to the east, which
rapidly exploded. A few moments later, there were several large
explosions that shook the house. They went back inside, and said
that several minutes later they heard things hit the walls
and rooftop like hail hitting the house. They were all too scared to
go outside, so when morning came, they found small burned black
stones all over the yard, and many pieces that had rolled off the
rooftops all laying below the roof.

This is another view of the home of my new friend
Manuel, a very enthusiastic 10 year old boy, and meteorite hunter
extraordinaire! His home was showered with meteorites, and he and
his mother told me that they had picked up "nearly a hundred" small
pieces. I know it is true, I was with him when he showed me how to
find meteorites by picking them up right and left right in front of
me!

This little girl also found many stones around her
house, shown here holding two small ones that hit her home. This
meteorite "hammered" at least 3 homes, one store and several
greenhouses, yet none of the stones penetrated or did any damage,
unlike the Cali Colombia meteorite. It seems that the meteorites had
slowed down enough to just plop down.

This is the local store/restaurant/watering hole
of Berduc. It was hit by many small meteorites, which rolled off the
roof and were found in the gutter the next day. The gravel parking
lot contained many meteorites, all under 5 grams.

This view of the parking lot of the store shows a
road crew, searching for meteorites on their lunch break. While I
was there that day, having a cold drink, they all found meteorites,
and were very happy men! The meteorite came in from the right,
and showered stones at least 2 kilometers to the east of the highway
(the farthest piece we found in that side of the strewnfield) then
passed over the highway dropping stones for at least another 3
kilometers (surely many more). Many meteorite pieces were
found on the highway, where cars had run them over and thrown them
to the edges.

This is a small 17 gram complete Berduc meteorite.
Note the very shiny fusion crust, and visible chondrule. Most pieces
show chondrules which form glossy eucrite-like fusion crust when
exposed. The meteorite has never been rained on, and it was extremely dry
when I was there in the fall, so all of the pieces we found
are still absolutely pristine!

This photo shows what the majority of the strewnfield
looks like, very thick brush, high weeds, and no chance of finding
stones. I spent hours in this stuff with the wounds to prove it! It
seems that every plant in Argentina is covered in spines, thorns, or
burs which leave you bloody and wishing you had not tried to force your
way through them! Still, it was worth the pain and every second of
discomfort. We did see plenty of snakes, very poisonous ones called
"Yarara", a pit viper. We saw at least 10 of them, as it was very warm
on most days and they were active before winter set in. It kind of gnawed at you,
crushing through that brush, totally unable to see what you were
stepping on, and waiting for that bite to come! My first meteorite was
found on the trail you see at the bottom left of this photo.

While we
were in Argentina, there were
many people out hunting for meteorites, locals, Uruguayans, and
ourselves. We had permission to hunt on two large properties, but in
the end, there were too many people, and the landowners
congratulated us on our finds, revoked permission to be on their
land, and told everyone to leave. These are simple ranchers, who
were weary of the last two weeks of constant flow of police,
astronomers, meteorite hunters, and news crews and military
helicopters. I spoke with them and they just wanted to get back to
their quiet routine. It seems that most of the meteorite fall will
be lost.

The Berduc
meteorite hunt was a blast, a wonderful place with great and very
cheap wine, nice people, and beautiful meteorites found every day.

Greg getting primal on a large watermelon. Thirst will
make you very desperate as it was
very hot and after struggling through the brush, we found some old
watermelons in a patch. The landowner said he was tired of watermelons
after eating them all summer,
so we could eat any we wanted. They were fantastic! This was in the
middle of the strewnfield, you can see how thick the grass is!

My first Berduc meteorite find, an 8.46 gram 100%
crusted individual. I found this meteorite within 5 minutes of
hunting, actually walking down a trail towards where we planned to
hunt. I saw it after the others stepped right over it.

This is my second find, a 20.47 gram complete
stone, found only a few meters from the highway in heavy grass.

This is a 100% crusted
half-kilo meteorite. You can see the hole it made on
impact, and the stone simply bounced or rolled backward about

10
inches. The direction of the fall came from the left of the stone.

513 gram stone close-up, still in situ, never
touched by human hands, and only on our planet for 9 days before
being found.

Me, looking very happy eh? It was very hot out,
and I was tired of taking photos.

Here is an incredible 620
gram 100% crusted, flawless stone, cube-shaped, just balanced there,
it seemed that it would roll down if you looked at it wrong!

My little friend, Manuel, pointing out a
meteorite. Can you see it? Take a look at that stone, at his
fingertips, almost invisible in the plowed soil. I walked right by
it, he found it, and three others within the next 15 minutes! This
kid could be a meteorite hunting legend some day!

The same stone found by Manuel above, but a closer
view with flash photo. It stands out a little more that way.

Robert Ward with his last stone, a
very nice complete piece found in high grass. We found 4 other
meteorites weighing less than 10 grams within 30 meters of that stone.

This was my last meteorite find, a 4.44 gram broken
stone with secondary crust found at 11:40 am on 18 April, 2008. Minutes
after I found this stone, the landowner revoked permission to hunt on
his land, it seems that he decided that he was tired of all the people
around since the fall.

These are some of the locals, Rheas huge birds as tall as
we are,
which Robert tried to befriend to his detriment. He had a sandwich in
his hand, and as he tried to give the bird a piece of bread it seems
that these birds prefer meat, because it tried to take his fingers off!
After that, we avoided them like the plague.